


Survivor's Guilt

by heartemoji



Category: Dream SMP(Web Series)
Genre: Alcohol, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Not using any RPF tags because like, Survivor Guilt, Technomentor, imagine if critical role used rpf tags, these guys are very obviously characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:22:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27870717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartemoji/pseuds/heartemoji
Summary: Techno loses his apprentice, and seeks out his father for comfort.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s), Platonic Relationship(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 119





	Survivor's Guilt

**Author's Note:**

> One thousand words exactly pog!

Technoblade loved disappearing off the face of the Overworld, it seemed. Phil would wake up some days to see Techno's room empty, and then not hear even rumors about him for days or even weeks before Techno appeared suddenly in Phil's kitchen eating his food or bullying Tommy.

A year passed since the last time Techno stepped foot in his childhood home. Phil could smell alcohol wafting off him as he stumbled into the house at midnight.

"Techno?" Phil could hear bottles clinking together as his son walked in.

A derisive snort escaped Techno's snout to Phil's annoyance.

"How much did you drink?"

Phil barely understood Techno's slurred speech. "W'dn't you like to know."

"Techno." Phil said sternly. "Sit down- how much did you have to drink?"

The piglin practically collapsed on the couch a second after clumsily removing his cape. He looked down at the beer bottles on his waist.

"How m'ny bottles do I have l'ft?"

"Four." Phil replied as he poured water into a bottle.

"A lot, th- think I bought ten when I left the l'st town." Techno blindly reached for one of the bottles still clipped to his belt. "Blurred tog'ther."

Phil shoved the bottle of water into Techno's hand and took the beer off the clip. "Here."

Techno downed the water and then immediately held it up in confusion. "What- I w's scammed."

Phil rolled his eyes and quickly unclipped the other three bottles before putting his hands between the glasses and Techno's line of sight. "Oh no, looks like they're all water, better pour them all out."

"Aww." Techno grumbled morosely.

He refilled the bottles with water and turned around to see tears falling from Techno's eyes. "Techno are you alright?"

"Fine." Despite usually being a good liar Techno immediately looked away and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"Why'd you finally come home after all this time?" Phil handed Techno some water and put the other two on the table.

"The others here?" Techno drank with far less enthusiasm than before.

"No, they've all left the coop now, but they write back to me to let me know they're not dead." Phil shot him a pointed look.

"Been busy."

"Not busy anymore, then?"

"No."

"Are you going to elaborate?"

"No."

"Fine- glad you're not dead at least, now get up, your room's still here."

Phil lifted Techno up by the arm, dragging him up from the couch. His son leaned heavily against him as Phil lead them into Techno's room.

"Don't need t' tuck me in- I'm not a child anymore." He half-heartedly pulled his arm out of Phil's grip.

"You are when you're this fucking drunk."

Despite his claim he let Techno drop himself onto the bed and pass out on contact. Phil huffed in amusement and lifted Techno’s legs all the way onto his bed before turning the lights off and leaving.

\-----

The sun was high in the sky before Techno stumbled downstairs and into the kitchen.

“The beast awakens.” Phil commented.

Techno snorted in response. “Food?”

“There’s leftovers from last night in the fridge.”

Phil watched as Techno shuffled towards it and winced in response to the redstone light inside turning on. “And drink some water too.”

“No- I want to make this hangover as painful as possible.”

“Speaking of- what was that all about, last night?”

Techno threw some chicken onto the oven. “Don’t want to talk about it.”

“Too bad- we’re talking about it. I haven’t seen you in a year and you come back, just barely able to legally drink, absolutely wasted and crying.”

“I wasn’t crying.” He took his barely reheated chicken off the stove and shoved it into his mouth.

“Don’t try and lie to me, Techno.”

Techno loudly chewed in Phil’s direction to his disgust. “It was the alcohol.”

“And why the drinking?”

Techno’s ears drooped even lower than they were before.

“You can talk to me, Techno, I’m not even mad about the drinking, I’m just worried.” Phil reached over and laid a hand of his son’s.

“There was this kid, around Tommy’s age,” Techno started, softly, and in between bites of chicken. “He was a spineless pushover and an easy target for bullies, as a hybrid, so I was teaching him how to fight.”

Phil nodded in encouragement.

Techno stayed silent for a minute as he finished the chicken and a glass of water.

“He was… pretty bad at sword fighting, and archery, and any skill I tried to teach him, to be honest, but he was dedicated and that’s what mattered.”

“Everyone starts somewhere.” Phil agreed.

“A few months before I met him.... Ranboo, his name was, I had pissed off a nearby town, and I thought that I was far enough away so that they wouldn’t be able to find me- or they would forget me before they could.” Techno let out a long, shaky sigh. “I… hadn’t even known Ranboo that long but I considered him my apprentice and- he was with me when I was discovered.”

Phil pat Techno’s hand softly.

“They killed him- I was able to fight off so many- I saved myself- and I let him die.” Tears fell down Techno’s cheeks.

“You didn’t let him die, Techno, you tried as hard as you could to save him.”

“I should have done more- I should have been able to save him.”

“You’re only one person.”

“You weren’t there- Phil- if I had done anything- been smarter, acted faster, hit harder, Ranboo could be here with us.”

“That’s extremely counter-intuitive thinking Techno, you’re going to drive yourself insane thinking like that, you did everything you could. You were outmatched, and you tried your damn hardest to save Ranboo, but you can’t win every fight, and you need to accept that.”

Techno looked up at Phil, clearly unconvinced. “I… know…”

Phil sighed. “We can set up a grave for him, even if we don’t have his remains.”

“That… would be nice.” Techno said after a pause.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
